#byler centric

[sapphiccooper]

Will Byers- Holding Out for a Hero

credit: g_yrat on tt (me)

[dubiousdisco]

"You could not let him go. (...) You are the monster"

I think this line foreshadows both the M*leven breakup as it does the endgame couples. Bear with me,

Hopper (the one who actually used the line "I let her go" to refer to his first wife, which allowed him to eventually move on from his loss and find El and Joyce), lets go when he mistakenly believes he is the curse and tries to help them from afar. This is when Joyce, who had also moved on but came back for him when she knew he could be alive, finally manages to rescue him and he is reunited with El later on.

Steve is shown (and states) he can't let go of Nancy. Both Nancy and Jonathan let go of each other even if they really didn't want to, because they thought the other would be happier without them. Notably, in contrast to Mike and El, there was not a demand for an explanation during their absence. Jonathan came back running to Nancy as soon as he understood she was in trouble.

Robin let Vickie go, and perhaps she will end up with Vickie.

Dustin and Suzie are very comfortable with the distance, but she was grounded for changing his grade, which she accepted. She did, however, help the cali crew with his "birthday gift" when they told her about this. She let him go but came back to help him.

Lucas let Max go and have her distance but told her he was there for her and was reached out for her as soon as she allowed him to. I still believe they are going to have that date.

The most annoying guy in the series, Jason, could not let go of Chrissy. It is understandable that the shock got to him, but not excusable that he couldn't accept chrissy doing weed and decided the only thing to do was to kill Eddie. He and Chrissy are not, or course, reunited, and he has a bad ending.

Henry Creel has a great disdain for human beings, except maybe the ones that remind him of himself (el? will?). He, however, after turning into vecna, does not let any of his victims go and in fact consumes them. He tells nancy he remembers everyone he killed. He lives in the upside down version of his house, in frozen time, and a grandfather clock is shown when he is about to attack. The big bad of the series has many traits relative to mental illness, but the one we are focusing on is his inability to let go.

Will, very notably, tells Mike (he) will always need him, but lets him go as if ripping off a band-aid. (note that will is rewarded at this point, he is back to being Mike's number 1. Even when El walks away at the end, he stays with Will.

now, the complicated part.

Mike basically told Will he was about to let Eleven go because she doesn't need him and there's nothing else he can do for her. He tried to help her during the whole season (told the DJ to stop during the Angela bullying and tried to reach her in the rink, taking breakfast to her, asking gently what happened and assuring her she can talk to him because he is nobody important 'been bullied all his life' [this is an issue as well] and those people are nothing to El, a super hero [another issue], tries to reach her by foot when the cops are taking her away by car and tries to assure her he will "fix this", tries to help her during her fight with Vecna but only manages to say what she wants to hear thanks to Will, and even so, it seems like it didn't help much, i'm sure i'm forgetting something). He only insisted on the relationship because Will reassured him that she needed him. Romantic or not, he does love El. He will stay for her if she does need him.

El doesn't really NEED Mike, but she is shown several times acting as if she does throughout the seasons. This season features her being bullied and not telling Mike as to not taint his image of her, being moved to tears by the bullying and by the fact that MIKE SAW IT HAPPEN, and running away from mike when he was trying to reach her because him seeing her in need of help made her feel worse.

She demands Angela tell MIKE it was a joke and they really are friends, and when she refuses, moved by the bullying AND the fact that she can't mantain her image to mike anymore, she attacks her. We see a flashback to Brenner. We can easily infer that this moment made her feel like a monster.

This season we are also shown a flashback of el making Max fall off her skate in s2 when trying to impress mike into letting her join the group. El did this without knowing Max because she was upset a girl made Mike smile. In this context we know she also feels like a monster for this and that she did this to "keep Mike".

When mike tries to reach out for her, he mentions she's a super hero [a problem, since she can only think of herself as a super hero or a monster] and to answer why she didn't tell him about any of this, she shows him all the (frankly giant) stack of letters he sent her and points out the 'from mike', he 'can't even write' that he loves her. She rejects his reaching out, possibly because she felt like she was losing him as well. but still she tried to keep him through her lies in the beggining. even her letter to him after going back to brenner, although signed "from el" instead of "love el" was TO MIKE about becoming a superhero again, a person she knows he will love.

What I think is that after the training with Brenner, and the realization of the monster Brenner became/was and the monstrous things he did because he could not let go of Henry AND of Eleven, she is getting ready to let Mike go. She is not the monster, but she did consider many of the things she did because of Mike (making max fall, breaking Angela's face FOR NOT LYING TO MIKE and not just because of the bullying) monstruous. She doesn't want to be like Brenner. I think this is how her arc will end. She will let Mike, the first person she bounded with and who helped her not feel like a monster, the person she loved the most in her childhood, go. and she will move on. And maybe then she will accept his help as her friend and the help of all her friends and family.

And I think Mike, who had almost accepted their breakup already, will also let his superman go, but he will stay friends with El Hopper, Will's sister, and his best friend who understands, just like Will does.

There have been parallels between Will and El since season one, especially in regards to Mike. So if El goes from being his girlfriend to his best friend, perhaps Will will go from being his best friend to his boyfriend?

While I'm not sure this is what the duffers are planning, the season does end like this:

[sapphiccooper]

a short fic peak cause idk how to write long enough for ao3

Currently in the middle of writing a fic that would take place post season 4, in an apocalyptic Hawkins. It follows the party and their struggles with each other while trying to stay alive, centering around Mike and Will.

“I mean, you kind of have been a dick, Mike.” Lucas says from behind Dustin.

“Why is everyone suddenly ganging up on me, I didn’t do anything wrong!” Mike yells at Lucas.

It’s Dustin who speaks now, “Mike, no one is ganging up on you, it’s just that El is right. It’s like you get tunnel vision when she’s around. For the past year I felt like I had my friend back, and now that the party is all together again, you drop everyone to be with El. I understand she’s important to you, but you can’t keep dropping your friends whenever it’s convenient for you.” He speaks carefully, knowing Mike wasn’t exactly known for taking criticism well.   

“That’s what you think, huh? What about you? You haven’t exactly been around except when it comes to our campaigns. First, it was Steve, and then you couldn’t get your head out of Eddie’s ass. You were never there when I needed you!”

“You never let me be there when you needed me! I swear, Mike, you are the most secretive person I’ve ever known, I feel like I don’t even know you anymore. You complained about how you could never reach the Byers over the phone day after day, but whenever I tried to talk to you about it, you shut me out. You always shut me out. You shut Lucas out, you shut Will out-”

“I did not shut him out, you know I tried to contact him. It’s not my fault he never wanted to call me!” Tears fall to Mike’s cheeks as he inches closer and closer to Dustin, yelling louder and louder. 

“He never called, and you know the first thing he says to me when I get to California? He says I should have reached out more. Here I am trying day after day, and Will just shits on me the first chance he gets.”

Will has made it back from the creek by now. He nervously listens to the other boy’s conversation when he hears his name from Mike. Will raises his head to make eye contact with his best friend. 

Mike is crying even harder now as he brings his hands to his face. Sounds of sobbing and uneven breathing are heard as Lucas moves ahead of Dustin.

“Look, Mike. I think we’re all just tired.” Lucas looks up and makes eye contact with Will. His face full of concern and… fear? Lucas can’t dwell on Will for too long because he knows the fight needed to end before the party was found out. 

“Let’s just go inside and get some sleep. We all need to be up in just a few hours, so you guys can continue this conversation later. Maybe in a little more of a private area, you know? Like not in the middle of the woods with everyone watching? Where we won’t get eaten by demodogs?”

Mike doesn’t answer as he sits on his heels on the ground in front of Lucas. He just continues to cover his face, seeming unable to answer. Everyone decides it’s probably best to go back inside the cabin. Everyone enters the cabin, leaving Mike, El, and Will outside in the rain.